Demos Applauds Introduction of Federal Bill to Expand SCOTUS

NEW YORK, NY — Demos Acting Director of Legal Strategies Brenda Wright issued the following statement on Thursday in response to news that Sen. Ed Markey and Reps. Jerry Nadler, Hank Johnson and Mondaire Jones will introduce the Judiciary Act of 2021, legislation that would add four seats to the Supreme Court of the United States:

“In more than 150 years, the size of the Supreme Court has not changed. In the history of this country before that, Congress modified the number of justices on the court seven times. There’s precedent for changing the structure of the nation’s highest court, and the time for Congress to act is now.

“By adding four justices to the Supreme Court, the Judiciary Act of 2021 would re-establish the tie between the number of judicial circuits and the number of Supreme Court justices in the country originally set by the Judiciary Act of 1869. The current makeup of the Court fails to reflect the American people both in terms of its gender, racial and ethnic makeup and in terms of its values. And predictably, its rulings fail to move this country toward a more just, inclusive democracy and instead actively endanger the rights of Black and brown Americans and working people of all races.

“Court reform goes beyond the Court. It’s about protecting the basic freedoms of everyone in this country. The Judiciary Act of 2021 is a means of moving us toward an America that lives up to its promise.”

###